Hola to all Android buddies out there! The first unofficial image of Samsung’s upcoming Android device has hit the streets. The picture has been taken at a presentation made at a dealer event in Amsterdam. The phone seems to sport the candybar form-factor, but there is always a chance that a super-handy side-sliding QWERTY keyboard may be hiding behind what we see on this “incredibly crisp and clear” image. The touch screen of the future device is said to incorporate the capacitive technology, which will allow for multi-touch functionality. According to the source, the handset will be powered by a 528MHz processor and will probably utilize a 3.2 or a 5-megapixel camera, microSD card slot and Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP support. Google Maps with Street View and Latitude will also be on board. It is expected that there will be two versions of the phone: one designed to work with U.S. 3G networks and another with Europen/Asian 3G but… when? For how much? These are questions that do not lead anywhere for now

As you probably know, the Taiwanese manufacturer, HTC Corp, is the largest Windows Mobile smartphone manufacturer. Strange as it may seem, due to fact that other companies have not yet rolled out their Android projects (and still others have cancelled theirs), HTC is also the largest Android phone manufacturer, leading the chart with just one device, namely the G1. However, it seems that if things are going on this way, the situation in the end of the year may not be very different. It is said that at a Merrill Lynch technology conference, held in Taipei, the executive has been asked whether the rumors that HTC is to release five new handsets, running Google’s OS, were true. To this, Peter Chou, HTC CEO, has said that his company plans to release “at least” three Android-powered devices in the course of this year. Indeed, three sounds a lot more real to us, that’s for sure. The first one, the HTC Magic, which is more like a QWERTY-less variant of the G1, will soon be available with Vodafone in Europe, let’s just hope that the company will manage to deliver the other phones on time and that they would be more interesting.

Although not yet officially announced, the Evoke QA4 became Motorola’s hottest device. Initially, screenshots, design photos and a few specs have leaked and now the FCC says OK to it and publishes a few of its documents. Oh, we wish the manual showed more details!

However, a couple of its pages give us some really dirty thoughts – does the Evoke run on Android OS? Its main menu is opened by swiping from bottom to top (see image) and tapping on the top line gives “access to active status”, reminding us of the Android notifications screen. In addition, the manual mentions synchronization with Google Contacts, YouTube and Picasa.

We know Motorola plans Android phones, but is the Evoke the first one of them? Did the manufacturer completely redesign the OS, so that it looks funkier? Is the rumored 240×400 pixels screen resolution enough for Android? Can it work without hardware navigation keys? We are looking forward to seeing your comments!

Sometimes things just don’t work out well. We could almost taste the delicious Cupcake update for Android, which was expected in April, but now, it seems that the on-screen keyboard, video recording, stereo Bluetooth and a number of other features will have to wait. According to Betanews, Erica Gordon, spokesperson for T-Mobile USA, has informed that Cupcake’s April release is “just a rumor”. Well, there is still a ray of hope, since Gordon said she couldn’t speak for T-Mobile International, the plans of which may actually include a possible launch in April. However, when asked if T-Mobile International has confirmed the release, she replies: “Not as far as I know”. So, that is it, we wouldn’t fancy seeing the legendary Cupcake update soon enough.

Android gets better and better, too bad that we still do not have any other devices running it, except for the G1. Google has now developed an updated image search page for its open-source operating system Android, the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Users will now get their results faster and will be able to use different filtering options for their results. The search engine can now display up to 20 images per page. Besides, an image detail view page shows a large thumbnail of an image with arrows for navigation to the next or the previous one. In addition, the Google Mobile Browser can now filter the results according to their style by: Faces, Clip art, Line drawings and Photo content.

There are also three different settings for the filter: Strict, Moderate and Off. It is wonderful that Android gets a small update every once in a while, let’s just hope that we will have more devices to try it with soon.

Who wants a cupcake? If you own the G1, you should be saying, “I do, I do!” The guys at Pocket Lint spoke to a T-Mobile spokesman who told them that the firmware upgrade known as “cupcake” should be offered sometime in April. This cupcake is more than just empty calories. It will add that long-awaited virtual QWERTY keyboard to the G1 as well as add video and audio recording, Stereo Bluetooth, and the ability to save MMS attatchments. The upgrade is expected to be made available at about the same time that the Android powered HTC Magic-which will sport the cupcake improvements out of the box-is expected to be released although T-Mobile could not confirm that they were trying to coordinate the release of their firmware fix with the launch of HTC’s newest Android handset. The Magic is expected to be launched next month in Europe through Vodafone. At any rate, if you own the G1, this is one cupcake that you have been waiting for so long that you will probably gobble it down when it arrives.

So much for KS360’s Android fairy tale… at least, this is what Android Authority claims. As you probably know, the youthful QWERTY device was said to be expected re-released with the Android OS. However, the source says that Jeremy Newing, head of Marketing at LG Mobile UK, has defined the news from T3 as inaccurate, and he has never said the LG KS360 would be running Android at any point. What he has said is that the company plans to manufacture an Android device similar in form-factor, which will be designed for social networking.

Further thoughts really prove that a hypothetical Android KS360 launch would be quite insensible. First, its display resolution is only QVGA, the same as the one of the Kogan Agora, which has been cancelled recently due to possible compatibility issues. And second, it is a bit strange that LG would expect the KS360 to be profitable one year after its original release, even if it’s equipped with Android.

We went for the show, secretly hoping that we will finally get a chance to see the much-anticipated successor of the legendary G1, which has been the first phone to incorporate Google’s open-source operating system, Android. And indeed, a little surprise had been waiting for us at the Mobile World Congress, but, sadly, it wasn’t the G2. However, passing by HTC’s booth, we spotted a device, incorporating a pretty familiar design – thoroughly white. We can even describe it as… snow white? That’s it! HTC has indeed come to introduce the successor of the G1. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet the HTC Magic…

What you see on the pictures is a prototype device that was available at the MWC event. The Magic is HTC’s second phone to run Google’s Android OS, but it also comes with a number of improvements over the original handset. We can’t help but notice the great changes that have been made to the design. It is now a lot thinner, which is due to the lack of a hardware QWERTY keyboard. One very significant improvement has been made to the body and it refers to its build quality, which is now much higher. When in one’s hand, the device doesn’t feel cheap at all, which used to be a feature of the G1. As you may have noticed, we have avoided shooting the hardware buttons on the front side, since HTC representatives told us that changes in the design of these elements are still to be made. The screen size, however, will stay the same – 3.2 inches with resolution of 320×480 pixels.

Some of you may remember that one of the main drawbacks of G1’s camera was the total lack of video capturing, which is somewhat strange for such a device. This issue has been fixed, and now the Magic is proud to utilize a 3.2-megapixel camera plus video capturing capabilities. Well, the hardware side-sliding keyboard may have not made it outside the drawing board (if it has been a subject of discussion at all), but this will surely be well compensated by the newly added on-screen QWERTY keyboard (such has not yet been developed for the G1). In addition, users will now get features like MMS attachments and A2DP profile for Bluetooth.

When it comes to availability, the HTC Magic will be a quad-band GSM and a dual-band 3G device, which will be offered by Vodafone in Europe. Both companies, however, would still not reveal any information about when and for how much it will be distributed.

When somebody enters a store, he/she perfectly knows that nothing there is for free (except for the advertising leaflets and everything that could be stolen). At Android Market, the situation is slightly different as there you can still find free applications. When it comes to the paid ones, several rules are applied. In this article, we will inform you about them.

The most important thing to be mentioned is that you can use a certain program for a trial period of 24 hours and if you don’t like it, you will get your money back. If you miss this deadline you will have to ask for your rights (and money) directly from the developer. Besides, the re-installation of the purchased applications is completely free of charge, so you don’t need to worry in case, for example, you must restore the default phone settings and lose all your data. Their upgrades, tough, will not be distributed through Android Market and Google will not deal with any complaints of bugs or requests for adding new features. A detail that some of you may not like, comes next – at Android Market, there won’t be any available pornographic materials. To keep the score even, you can find plenty of them for free in Internet and they generate the highest demand in Google.

You have a great idea for an app for the Android Market, but you want to get paid for it. Well, the Android Market is now accepting priced applications from US and UK developers. Developers are asked to visit the publisher web site and upload their application along with pricing for end users. You can get to that page by clicking on this link. Priced applications will be available in the Android Market by the middle of next week for US customers. Later this quarter, developers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, France, and Spain will be allowed to offer priced applications with additional countries expected to be announced by the end of the first quarter. As you might have expected, payments and billings will be handled by Google Checkout. Also announced today was availability of free apps in the Android Market for users in Austrailia starting this Sunday.